I love Aunt May now. Not because J. Michael Straczynski has made her more interesting by allowing her to discover Peter's secret identity... although that helps. No, I love Aunt May because of recent experiences with my mother. I'm not going to burden you all with my sob story, but suffice it to say that my mother fell very ill recently, and I have spent many hours sitting by her bedside in the hospital hoping and praying for her recovery. This all began just as I was working on a Lookback of Amazing Spider-Man #9 which features the first storyline in which Peter must tear himself away from Aunt May's hospital bedside in order to earn enough money to pay for a life-saving operation. Yes, I know that, in previous years, this theme has been run into the ground but that doesn't matter to me. Suddenly, it doesn't feel like a tired old Spidey cliché anymore. Suddenly, I could feel all the stress and the worry that goes into bedside vigils. Suddenly, I could understand how hard it is to tear yourself away. Suddenly, I was glad Aunt May always made it back. Suddenly, I was pleased with the decision of bringing her back to life. Suddenly, as silly as it sounds, Aunt May became a sort of an inspiration to me... always bouncing back, always eventually recovering, no matter how difficult or impossible the odds.
My mother, by the way, is on the road to recovery, for which I am extremely grateful. Meanwhile, Aunt May is the healthiest she has been in ages. If I, as a fan, have anything to say about it, May will stay with us and will continue to thrive. Long Live Aunt May! You just gotta love her.